In One's Arms
by LanternLight13
Summary: 'Hug – to squeeze someone tightly in one's arms to express affection'. A series of situations where Oliver and Felicity don't quite share a hug and one time when they actually do.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This was written early Season Two, before the hug between Oliver and Felicity in 2x09 so I decided to spend a little more time on it to match the current hugging status.**

**Set in season two, but no mentions of specific plots/events except for the hug in 2x09.**

**Each chapter stands alone, five in total.  
**

**Warnings: mentions of violence.**

* * *

**In One's Arms**

_Hug - /hʌg/_

_verb_

_1. squeeze (someone) tightly in one's arms, typically to express affection._

As soon as she saw Oliver she runs to him and wraps her arms around him, feeling the warmth of his arms around her in turn.

He was alarmed at first, thinking something was wrong, but soon realised Felicity was just worried about him – relieved to see he had returned alive.

She usually wasn't this dramatic, but it had been a long couple of days and she was at the point that she needed to reassure herself that he actually was fine.

She stepped back and let him enter the room.

It wasn't until later that she realised that it was the first time they had shared a real hug. Sure, they had been close before, but she hadn't categorised it as an affectionate moment, more of a product of the situation.

* * *

**First Position**

One of the few times Felicity finds herself in Oliver's arms is of course related to Arrow business.

Queue the fancy party. The men were in tuxes and the women in long flowing dresses and enough jewellery to rival the GDP of a small country. It was being held in a giant ballroom, gilded with gold, and two huge crystal chandeliers were hanging from the high ceiling lighting up the glittering people on the dance floor.

Felicity is sad to say she is used to this scene by now. She fits in to the crowd with a deep blue dress that brushes the floor even with heels on and her one piece of expensive jewellery; a diamond necklace that has been in her family forever. She makes two concessions though; she is wearing her favourite pink lipstick because it makes her feel more like herself and her hair is in her usual ponytail because she was there to work not socialise.

Oliver was in attendance as the CEO of Queen Consolidated and Felicity was there as his assistant. The hope was that he could smooth talk someone into investing in the company and Felicity was there to get the paperwork done before they could change their mind.

She wandered the crowd, keeping an eye on Oliver and the roaming trays of hors d'oeuvres. She had achieved the hard part of the evening – getting Oliver to actually remember to turn up to the event – and felt that she deserved the expensive, small, but delicious treats that were being carried around by the army of wait staff.

Making her way around the room Felicity kept a pleasant smile on her face nodding at people she knew from being an EA while they barely recognised her. It made it easier, she surmised, to track and pounce on the hors d'oeuvres if no one tries to talk to her.

The only person she did know other than Oliver is Diggle who is hovering around the edges of the room looking serious like all the other bodyguards present. Felicity figured that he was only mechanically looking out for Oliver, they all knew he could look out for himself, but Oliver Queen was expected to have a bodyguard and Diggle was in actuality listening to the police feed through his discrete earpiece in case there was an emergency. And five minutes later there was.

Diggle made eye contact with Felicity and she quickly but covertly made her way over until they were standing side by side.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"Guy robbed a gas station about an hour ago. The police arrested him but he managed to escape on the way to the station and is currently terrorising the Glades. He's shot two people already, thankfully he is a bad shot and no one is dead. But it won't last for long."

"The police can't handle it?"

"Most are on crowd control at another rally for helping the Glades. This guy keeps slipping past them."

"Dammit. Do you have…?"

Diggle wordlessly passed over her tablet and another earpiece. It took a matter of minutes for Felicity to pull up the city's traffic cameras and cross-reference with the police reports to find the rogue shooter. Colin Connors was his name she discovered. She ran her facial recognition software on the traffic cameras and whatever other cameras she could access to track Connors' location. There were gaps in information but a pattern was emerging of where he was going. She passed back the tablet.

"I'll go let Oliver know there is a situation and you can keep an eye on this guy and see if you can predict his path."

"Got it," Diggle said already focusing on the tablet.

Walking quickly through the crowd Felicity headed to where she had last seen Oliver. Spotting him, she groaned. He was on the edge of the dance floor dancing with his sister. He was wearing a genuine smile and Thea was laughing, both of them trying to lead and butchering the waltz, but having fun nonetheless.

She only hesitated a second before recognising that the guilt of not helping someone when he could would forever ruin this moment in Oliver's mind if she left them alone.

She cautiously approached until she was standing just to the side. She cleared her through, "Excuse me, Mr Queen."

"Ms Smoak," Oliver said politely, but Felicity noticed he immediately went on alert.

"There is some business that you need to attend to," Felicity said vaguely.

"Of course."

"Oh no you don't, Ollie," Thea threatened. "You said you would dance one dance."

"This is important, Thea," Oliver reasoned.

Thea got a glint in her eye. "Fine then, you two can talk it over while you finish the dance."

Felicity found out then that the Queens shared the trait of agility. Before she could stutter or embarrass herself instead of saying a simple 'no, thank you', Thea had detached herself from her brother and pushed Felicity into his arms. He automatically caught her and Felicity just looked between the siblings in shock.

"Enjoy yourselves now," Thea trilled as she disappeared.

With a roll of his eyes Oliver rearranged his arms so that they were standing in the traditional dance pose and started to lead her around their small portion of the dance floor. "What happened?"

"Your sister manipulated us into dancing," she answered, trying not to focus on Oliver's arms around her and more on the steps of the dance. She would be mortified if she stepped on his toes. "Thea is going to make an excellent business woman, by the way. I can totally see her getting anything she wants just by glaring at people."

"I mean, what happened to make you come get me."

"Oh, right. That. We have a gunman on the loose in the Glades. Police are trying but failing to catch him and he's shot a couple of people already but no deaths. I've got Diggle following him on the tracking program I rigged up."

The song ended just then and Oliver easily linked their arms together and escorted Felicity off the dance floor, heading towards Diggle.

"What's the situation?" Oliver asked as they reached him.

"He's lying low for now but I think I know where he's going."

"Good. Is my other suit in the car?"

"Of course, Mr Queen."

"Felicity can you manage tracking him on the move?"

"No problem."

"Alright, let's go. Hopefully I'll be back before Thea notices I've left."

Diggle passed Felicity back her tablet and Oliver let go of her arm so she could use both hands on the device.

Diggle led the way out the back entrance, Oliver and Felicity a step behind, and she stubbornly ignored the fact that she and Oliver had been dancing in front of the entire room.

The mission was successful, however Thea did notice Oliver's absence.


	2. Chapter 2

**Road Tripping**

It took a few moments for Felicity to wake up. She was groggy, her head felt like it was full of cottonwool, but at the same time throbbed like she had spent the last night drinking.

The problem with that was that she hadn't drunk enough in the last few months to earn a hangover as she was either at Queen Consolidated or the basement of Verdant. While Verdant did have copious amounts of alcohol, she was usually helping defuse a life or death situation and was therefore definitely not drinking.

Her next problem was that there was an arm wrapped around her waist and if she wasn't mistaken her head was resting on another one. That there was much, much less likely than her drinking. She couldn't help it and she automatically stiffened.

"Felicity?"

"…Oliver…?" Her eyes opened but all she could see was black and becoming confused she went to sit up.

"Don't move," Oliver warned, but it was too late.

"Oww," she moaned, hitting her already tender head on the ceiling and falling back down. She scrunched her eyes closed and waited for the sharp pain to ease back to the steady throbbing. "Just what is going on here?" she demanded weakly.

"We are currently being kidnapped."

Understanding dawned on her. "Are we in the trunk of a car?" Oliver didn't answer but by that point the small space, scratchy carpet and lack of light answered her question for her. The car wasn't moving but that wasn't reassuring. "How…why?" she asked slowly, fighting off the panic. It helped that while she couldn't see Oliver, or anything for that matter, she could feel the rise and fall of his chest against her back. No wonder he was holding her, the poor guy would barely be able to fit in the space, let alone with her as well. Felicity could admit she was actually fairly comfortable, but from what she could tell Oliver was hunched around her, legs bent awkwardly and his shoulders at a weird angle so the he wasn't crushing her.

"What do you remember?" Oliver asked.

Felicity scanned her memory. The last thing she could recall was parking her car at work that morning. She was not surprised to find that she didn't remember making it to the office. "I was in the parking garage."

"I was in my office when I got an anonymous email," Oliver said grimly. "They ordered me to meet with them or they'd kill you. Apparently it has something to do with a pending QC project I've never heard of. They injected me with the same drug that they had given you and I woke up in here."

Felicity was silent for a second and closed her eyes because trying to think everything through was making the throbbing worse. "You have a plan, right?"

"Not quite. But I did call Diggle before I left QC."

"Close enough," she sighed.

"How do you feel? I expected you to, you know, talk more." He slightly increased the pressure around her waist to demonstrate his point. History showed that she was prone to over talking when she was in close proximity to him, or all the time actually.

"My head hurts," she answered honestly.

"Did you hit it?" Oliver asked and while Felicity couldn't see him she could picture the look of concern on his face.

"I don't think so."

"It must be the aftereffects of the drug."

"You don't seem to be suffering," Felicity complained. "Except for maybe lack of leg room."

"I'm bigger than you."

"Evidently."

"I mean, they must have given us the same dosage of drug, but because you are smaller the dosage was a lot more potent."

"Oh."

"Just rest, okay. Diggle should be here soon."

The idea was tempting but she forced herself to think. "I take it you have already tried to escape."

"They made a few modifications to the car, the only way to get out is to be let out."

Felicity sighed again and settled in for the wait.

It was ten minutes later when they heard the sound of shouts and gunshots. They both tensed and Oliver instinctively drew her even closer to him.

"Is it Diggle?" Felicity whispered, ignoring the quaver in her voice. "I really hope it's Diggle."

Oliver didn't answer but Felicity felt him clench his fists in frustration. Waiting for someone to rescue him seemed to be very low on his list of favourite things.

The gunshots stopped and the silence was deafening.

"Oliver?" a voice called from outside.

"In here, Diggle," Oliver shouted back and they both relaxed.

A second later and Felicity was greeted with sunlight and fresh air. She squinted, ignoring the new pain that bright light inflicted on her head, and looked up to see a smirking Diggle.

"You two cosy enough in there?" he asked.

"Help her out," Oliver ordered, already pushing Felicity into a sitting position. "She's still under the effects of whatever it was they injected us with."

Diggle immediately reached for her and pulled Felicity out of the trunk. When he tried to stand her up her knees buckled and he swept her up into his arms.

"Whoa there. Felicity, are you dizzy, nauseous?"

"Head hurts," she said again and buried her head in John's jacket against the light.

"We should take her back to the club," Oliver said climbing out of the car.

"Nah, man. The police will be here any minute along with an ambulance. Oliver Queen missing made the news and the police were one step behind me on tracking the car."

"What about Felicity? Any mention in the media?"

"Just that a QC employee was also taken, no names."

"Good. This is all…" he trailed off.

Diggle sniggered, "…Too close for comfort?"

"I can hear you," Felicity complained, voice muffled in the material of Diggle's jacket.

"Come on, let's find somewhere to wait," Diggle suggested, carrying Felicity to the side of the abandoned street. "You can deal with them if you want," he said to Oliver, nodding at the two unconscious men, one hanging out of the driver's side door and the other on the ground.

When the police turned up it was to find the two kidnappers cabled tied and shoved in the trunk of their car with Oliver Queen, his driver and assistant sitting on the curb of the road.


	3. Chapter 3

**Shelter from the Sky**

"Felicity?"

"Turn left at the next hallway and we want the third door on the right. Heat signature isn't showing anyone else on this floor."

Felicity looked up from her tablet to watch Oliver, dressed fully as the Arrow, stalk forward and check if the hallway she indicated was indeed empty.

"There is no one else here," Felicity said again, holding up and waving her tablet to make her point.

"You can't be too careful," Oliver grumbled and Felicity unsuccessfully tried to hide her snort of derision.

"Well Mr Safety-Conscious, we better hurry up before the next guard patrol finds that several locks have been disarmed."

She couldn't quite tell but she was sure that Oliver glared at her from under his hood.

This was one of the rare times that Felicity was out on a mission but didn't have to dress the part. They were on your average heist mission, breaking into an office building to find some documents that the police would need to convict a Mrs Geraldine Jay. Usually Felicity would just hack her way through the system but Mrs Jay was old school and kept paper records. In today's day and age it was a smart move, as long as the records were kept safe. If the police got them it would show proof of her smuggling ring as well as list the paying clients. Felicity was there because Mrs Jay used a security business as her front, and it was good advertising to have top security measures in place. Most doors had their own individual key pad locks, if not a card swipe and some form of finger scanning technology in the more private areas. Not to mention the army of security guards. She had tried to teach the boys how to hack into the different locks but the information they had varied the models and codes so much that in the end it was easier for Felicity to go in person than for Diggle and Oliver to learn twenty different ways to bypass the locks.

So Felicity got to help Oliver through the many locked doors while Diggle stayed in the car in case they needed backup and just generally keeping an eye on things.

Finally Felicity and Oliver reached the office of Mrs Jay and it took less than a minute for Felicity to rewire the door and bypass the fingerprint scanner. She could have done the old trick of reusing the print on the scanner, but unlike most other people, Mrs Jay knew to clean off her fingerprint after using it.

Oliver pushed in front of her and scanned the room for any threats before waving her in.

She walked in and squeaked in surprise before muffling her mouth with her hand.

"_Felicity_?" Diggle demanded over the comm. set while Oliver whirled around to face her, one hand going to his quiver.

"Sorry," she whispered. "There is a giant bear staring at me."

"_What_?" Diggle asked confused.

"There is a stuffed bear in the office," Oliver explained.

"It even does that thing where its eyes follow you around the room," Felicity added, bobbing her head to either side to prove it.

"Felicity," Oliver reminded her, "the files."

"Oh, right. On it."

Holding up her tablet she chose another program and started to scan the room while Oliver started to manually riffle through the filing cabinets.

"There are two places the scanner can't see," Felicity announced triumphantly. "My guess is that these hold the top secret stuff."

"Where?"

"We have a wall safe behind the bear," she eyed it warily, "and one in the middle of the desk, probably a hidden compartment."

Leaving her tablet on the desk she sat down behind it and started to figure out where the hidden compartment was. Oliver busied himself by moving the bear away from the wall to expose the barely visible opening in the wooden panel.

"Pay dirt," Felicity said excitedly as she opened the hatch that contained a small black book. Flicking though the pages she found a list of names and numbers that with a little decoding would be very damning evidence. Problem was it could take hours, even days, to crack if they didn't also find the key to the code. Tossing it to Oliver he started to look through it while she moved onto the safe.

"Can you even break into a safe?" Oliver questioned.

"Never doubt what information you can find on the internet," Felicity smirked and got to work.

Luckily for her it was a matter of wires and the right program fed into the lock mechanism rather than cogs and wheels. In short order she had the safe open.

"That was kind of too easy," Felicity admitted to Oliver as she opened the door and peered inside, "…oh, that's why."

Oliver had already grabbed her hand and yanked her out of the room before Felicity had registered that she had just been face to face with a live, ticking down bomb.

"Diggle," Oliver growled through the comms, pushing Felicity so that she was in front of him and leading them out, "the building is about to blow."

"_Excuse me_?"

"The safe was booby-trapped; we have just under a minute."

"It's a small but powerful bomb," Felicity added. "My guess is it will take out at least the top two storeys but we should be fine on the street, if we reach the street."

"Since when do you know about bombs?" Oliver demanded.

"Internet," Felicity puffed out.

They rounded a corner and Felicity nearly lost her footing but Oliver grabbed her arm again and pulled her upright without stopping.

"_How close_?" Diggle demanded.

"At the stairwell now."

They made it the ground floor when the explosion hit. Felicity let out an involuntary scream as the building shook but Oliver kept moving and shoved Felicity against the wall, his body pressing against hers.

The ceiling above them gave way and for what felt like forever there was a rain of plaster and debris. Felicity could only just hear Diggle shouting at them through her earpiece over the crash of the ceiling.

When silence came Felicity found that she had buried her head into Oliver's shoulder as he had protectively shielded her, one arm over her head the other around her waist.

"Felicity?"

"I'm okay. You?"

Oliver relaxed and carefully stepped back, mindful of the mess behind him. "We're okay, John. Just a little dusty."

"_Thank God. Now get out of there before the police arrive_."

Oliver helped Felicity climb over what was left of the ceiling and they quickly made their way out of the building and to where Diggle was waiting.

"Well?" he asked as they climbed into the backseat of the car.

"I didn't expect that," Oliver admitted.

"She did have a giant stuffed bear in her office," Felicity pointed out. "That should have been a clue that she was one of those eccentric types that leaves explosives in their safe, just in case."

Diggle pulled away from the curb as two police cruisers and a fire truck screeched around the corner. "Did we at least get the info?" he asked.

Oliver held up the little black book in triumph. A little decoding later and Mrs Jay was being visited by the police after an anonymous tip to Officer Lance.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Warnings for mentions of death and violence**

* * *

**Hold On**

"Oliver?!" Felicity called in a panic, searching the barely lit basement of Verdant with her eyes as she rushed down the stairs. She nearly tripped and fell as she missed the last step.

Hitting the lights, Felicity moved to the middle of the room and spun around quickly. She found what she was looking for in one of the dark corners.

"Oliver!" she gasped out again as she ran over to the slumped figure of Oliver Queen, still dressed in the green leather of the Arrow. He was leaning against the concrete wall oblivious to her presence which was the second most alarming thing to Felicity, the first being the very obvious blood stains.

Diverting quickly, Felicity pulled her phone out as she headed over to the medical supplies. Quickly texting John that she had Oliver and to hurry, she grabbed a handful of gauze and ran back to her friend.

Felicity approached Oliver slowly, calling his name several times as she knelt down next to him. She had to duck down to see his eyes under the hood. They were unfocused and she carefully pulled his hood back. That got a small response from him and he changed from staring blankly at the floor to staring blankly at her.

"You're bleeding," Felicity said, stating the obvious once again, but she didn't think he realised this time. His back was all but soaked in blood, a garish streak on the wall behind him from where he had been leaning before collapsing to the floor. At least he had automatically discarded his bow and quiver. She didn't think her trying to take them off him in this state would end well.

Felicity wasn't a squeamish woman, she was too well acquainted with Oliver's blood at this point, but she was no medic. Diggle was what she and Oliver needed, but until he arrived, she would have to deal with Oliver's wounds. Diggle had been making her patch Oliver up for months under his direction – as practice for the time when he wasn't there. Remembering what he had taught her Felicity decided her plan of attack.

Clicking her fingers in front of Oliver's face while surreptitiously taking his pulse at his wrist she spoke in her no-nonsense voice. "Oliver. I need you to listen to me. Okay?"

Slowly Oliver locked eyes with her and nodded. But at least he responded. Shock, Felicity realised. He was in shock.

"How bad are you hurt?" Felicity asked.

He stared at her dumbly.

"Dammit, Oliver. I need to take your clothes off." Felicity barely spared a thought to her inappropriate turn of phrase as Oliver moved to take off his jacket. He had trouble with the zipper and in the end it was Felicity that took it off with Oliver moving slightly to help her. The material was torn in the back, several long slices from a sharp blade scattered on the shoulders where the quiver didn't offer any protection. Hopefully that was all the injuries Oliver had, aside from a few scratches.

She couldn't move him without him wanting to move but she had get to his back. Shrugging she came to one conclusion and rose to her knees, gently pulling Oliver forward until he was leaning against her stomach and Felicity had access to the tops of his shoulders. Taking the gauze she firmly pressed down on the deep and still bleeding wounds then taped it down to keep pressure. Diggle would have to stitch them up. With the spare gauze she started to clean up the blood on his back, unveiling more wounds but they were minor, barely bleeding.

As it often occurred, Felicity didn't realise that she was talking nonstop until Oliver interrupted her. Not that he said much but he chuckled softly, not loud enough for her to hear, but with his head pressed into her stomach she felt it. Odds were that she had said something inappropriate.

"Oliver," she pressed quietly, stopping her ministrations. "How do you feel?"

"I…" he choked off in a sob. "I failed them, Felicity. I couldn't stop it."

Felicity shushed him before wrapping her arms around him, mindful of his shoulders. Tears came to her own eyes as she remembered the mission. They had been trying to save a group of hostages. In the end Oliver had needed to persuade the hostage taker to let them go, with a little help from his bow, but one of his men had disobeyed his orders and started to shoot the hostages. He was dead. So were two innocent people. One of which could have been a younger version of Thea Queen. Oliver, who had practice with guilt, could not just brush it off this time. Felicity had wondered how long it would take before something was too much for him. She didn't like being right.

"You can't save everybody, Oliver," Felicity whispered to him. "But you never stop trying. As long as you keep trying you will never fail. Trust me, please."

Oliver continued his broken, dry sobbing, but also didn't move his head from where it was pressed into her stomach. Felicity stayed still despite her knees protesting the hard floor because if she could give him even a small amount of comfort then she would.

When Diggle arrived, rushing down the stairs much like Felicity had, he found a wounded, subdued looking Oliver sitting on the medical table. Felicity was standing close by his side, checking on the bandages already wrapped around his back.

"You good, man?" Diggle asked cautiously as he grabbed the medical equipment Felicity passed him.

Oliver offered a sad smile, glancing swiftly at the young blonde. "I will be."

"It wasn't you fault."

"I…I know."

He didn't, but with a little time and reflection he would.


	5. Chapter 5

**Affection**

Felicity passed Diggle on his way out of Oliver's office in the Queen Consolidated building. They stopped for a moment to exchange a greeting and a joke.

Oliver watched from his desk contemplating his two closest friends. He had so much to think about, to plan, all while organising his multiple lives and his personal mission, that he forgot that the people around him had their own lives outside of his. It was not surprising that Felicity and John were friends, but Oliver had been the uniting force and every now and then when they showed knowledge of each other that he was not aware of, it surprised him. They met up for meals every now and then, shared a beer at Diggle's or a wine at Felicity's. It wasn't that Oliver wasn't invited; it was something to do while Oliver was off being a CEO or a member of the Queen family.

In fact, Oliver mused, the only time that he felt like himself was when he was with the two of them. He wasn't a CEO, a Queen or a vigilante, but Oliver. John and Felicity didn't give a damn about who he was to the rest of the world. Both had treated him exactly the same when they thought he was just a rich brat, with a few concessions, as when they found out the real him. Both had refused to be walked over, neither had dismissed him as just another spoiled trust fund baby.

John was still determined to protect him, albeit in a different way now. John had always known that there was more to him.

Felicity was still his guide, just now more than a provider of information. Felicity…she had always trusted him.

"Ms Rochev has added another topic to this afternoon's meeting," Felicity announced as she approached Oliver's desk, pulling him out of his thoughts. "Here is all the data I could find that will be relevant though I can't imagine you'll need it all." Felicity looked doubtfully down at the handful of paper files and tablet in her arms. "Maybe I should have refined it."

"It's fine, Felicity. Thank you, I'm sure Ms Rochev will be pleasantly surprised that I am well versed on the subject."

Felicity sniggered. "I'm sure she'll love it when you one up her again."

Oliver shook his head to stave off the laughter, which Felicity misinterpreted.

"Oh, God, she's not behind me is she?" she asked freezing.

"No, no," Oliver laughed this time. "I just really shouldn't be laughing about her. She is a colleague."

Felicity rolled her eyes and turned to leave.

"Felicity," Oliver called suddenly, rising from his seat and walking over.

"Yes?" she asked, frowning in confusion.

The next thing she knew Oliver was wrapping his arms around her and warmly, affectionately, hugging her.

"Oliver?" she asked, still confused as he stepped back.

"Thank you," was all he said.

And that was the first time Oliver hugged Felicity, but not the last.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading.**


End file.
